The Demise of the Professional Pilots Profession.
Incredible when you write a post on this forum, how certain individuals, without knowing you, have the arrogance to call you unprofessional.
I have no doubt about my professionalism. I have stood up to companys who required me to break the laws of aviation, and I have paid my due. This is why I am taking the time to write this post.
Some my have taken the title of my original post to mean pilots are becoming less professional. That is not what I meant, I meant the profession in general is diminishing, due to paycuts, conditions and hours required to work, as a result of airline management. However it seems to have evolved into personal attacks by some.
I question those who doubt my professionalism by simply saying, refuse, or leave the job as you are too unprofessional to continue as an airline captain.
What is the definition of fatique (from internet)
1. mental or physical exhaustion: extreme tiredness or weariness resulting from physical or mental activity
2. physiology inability to respond to stimulus: temporary inability of an organ or part such as a muscle or nerve cell to respond to a stimulus and function normally, following continuous activity or stimulation
3. inability to respond to situation: temporary inability of somebody to respond to a situation as a result of overexposure or excessive activity ( often used in combination )
compassion fatigue
Therefore if you were to excercise your duty as a professional pilot and stand down from doing a flight due to fatique (excessive tiredness) what repercussions would you expect.
Our airline as part of there cost cutting, is operating with minimum crew (pilots and flight attendants) therefore if I was to stand down often there would be no other crew to call out, resulting in the flight been cancelled, or posponed until the inbound crew took 12 hours rest.(we fly succesive nights)
Yet even 12 hours rest when your fatiqued may not be enough, It may take 3-5 days to recover (CAP371 RECOMMENDATIONS) from the heavy rosters, jet lag, which are now rostered, up to maximum duty times, and which we fly for months on end.
Would my contract be renewed.
What would my management say, 'What you cant operate because your tired'.
Its not as difinitive as a broken arm, flu, etc.
When does a tired pilot decide hes fatigued.
A captain has just had his contract terminated due to the above scenario)
So obviously all pilots and cabin crew of my airline, including this captain who has just been terminated (as he has operated under these circumstances for the last 3 years), are unprofessional.
Our managements answer was, if you cant work what we roster you, you are of no use to us.
I bet you have operated very tired at some stage of your career.
Therefore in reality you cannot simply put all the owness on the pilot. Management should be held accountable too, until they are things will not change.
Also I believe the only way things can improve is if the regulators overhauled the duty time limitations, or made the CAP 371 recommendations MANDATORY. After all that is there reason for existance.
As for the pay and conditions, I dont see that changing.
The Demise of the Professional Pilots Profession.